Sunday, 15 June 2008

how to use multiple display with one computer

MaxiVista turns any networked computer into an external monitor. MaxiVista's onlyhardware requirement is that the two computers must connect to eachother across a network, so it's perfect if you can't add an extra videoadapter. I have a network adapter for my old laptop, so I connected itto my network and installed the free MaxiVista demo. It worked and mylaptop's desktop was immediately spread across three displays, as shownin Figure 1.

Figure 1: MaxiVista at work.

Ifyou don't have an old laptop lying around, you can buy a used laptopfor cheaper than an external monitor would cost. It doesn't need to befast—even very old hardware will work with MaxiVista.

Configure MaxiVista

To configure the MaxiVista demo, follow these steps:

1.

Connectyour primary PC (the one to which you'll connect your keyboard andmouse) and your secondary PC (the one that will act as an extramonitor) to a network. If you don't have a network yet, connect the twocomputers with an Ethernet cross-over cable.

Run MaxiVista_Setup_PrimaryPC.exe on the primary PC and follow the wizard's instructions.

4.

Run MaxiVista_Setup_SecondaryPC.exe on the secondary PC and follow the wizard's instructions.

5.

Right-click the MaxiVista icon in the notification area and then click Enable Secondary Display.

MaxiVistaisn't quite as nice as having an external monitor directly attached tomy laptop, but it's close. I can't run any 3-D games on the MaxiVistadisplay nor can I watch DVDs on it. I can, however, keep my instantmessages, e-mail, Web browser, or word processor on the display. Thoughit has its limitations, MaxVista gave me the desktop space I neededwithout requiring me to buy any new hardware.